Lack of Association Between Human Leukocyte Antigen-E Alleles and Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma in Tunisians

Abstract

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), a cancer with a remarkable geographical and worldwide ethnic distribution, has been strongly associated with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I genes. The presence of additional HLA risk factors has been suggested by several reports. In the present study, we analyzed the implication of HLA-E gene polymorphisms in NPC susceptibility in Tunisians, a population characterized by an intermediate incidence of NPC with specific clinical features. Peripheral blood DNA was obtained from 185 patients with NPC and 177 matched controls. Genotyping for three single-nucleotide polymorphisms, codon 83Gly/Arg, codon 157Arg/Gly, and codon 107Arg/Gly, was performed using the polymerase chain reaction method. The HLA-E*01:01 and HLA-E*01:03 were the only alleles found among Tunisians. The HLA-E*01:03 allele had a slight increase in patients with NPC (43%) compared with controls (37%), but the difference did not reach a statistical significance. Our results show the lack of association between HLA-E alleles and NPC in the Tunisian population. This is not in agreement with the previous studies, suggesting a potential implication of HLA-E gene polymorphisms in the susceptibility to NPC among populations with high-risk incidence. Our study further supports the dissimilarity of NPC between populations with different NPC incidence.

HLA Allele E*01:01 Is Associated with a Reduced Risk of EBV-Related Classical Hodgkin Lymphoma Independently of HLA-A*01/*02

“…In Thai NPC patients, a homozygous E*01 : 03 genotype was associated with an increased risk of disease, i.e., E*01 : 01 -carriers were, as in this study, protected for EBV-tumorigenesis [ 48 ]. However, although a similar trend was found in Tunisian patients with NPC, neither HLA-E allele was found to have major effects on NPC susceptibility or progression [ 49 ].…”

Clinical and immunological significance of HLA‐E in stem cell transplantation and cancer

“…In a first study comparing 100 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma and 100 healthy controls, the frequency of individuals having the HLA-E*01:03 allele was higher in the patient group as compared with the healthy controls (72% vs 57.5%) (57). However, in a comparable study with 185 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients and 177 matched controls no significant difference between allele frequencies was found between the groups (58). In line with this study, comparing 100 melanoma patients and 100 healthy controls revealed comparable frequencies of HLA-E*01:01 and HLA-E*01:03 alleles between the two groups.…”

Dimorphism of HLA-E and its Disease Association

“…However, in a number of research studies, no association of HLA-E alleles with cancer has been reported. One more study of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients revealed no significant difference between both alleles [77]. No associations were found between HLA-E alleles and urinary bladder carcinoma [78].…”